Peace talks with government not yet terminated — Sison

MANILA, Philippines — There is no decision yet to terminate the peace talks with the government.

Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison yesterday clarified that only the national council of the National Democratic Front (NDF) could decide to terminate the peace talks.

“I can only make the pertinent advice to the council in my capacity as chief political consultant,” Sison said.

The NDF is representing the CPP and its armed guerrilla group, the New People’s Army (NPA), in the peace talks with the government.

Sison on Thursday said it would be better to work for the ouster of President Duterte and prepare negotiations with the next administration.

The CPP said it supports Sison’s opinion that peace negotiations are not possible under Duterte.

However, only the NDF could decide whether to continue the negotiations with the government, the CPP said.

“As allied members of the NDF, the Party and the NPA await the convening of the NDF National Council and the issuance of its decision soon,” the CPP said.

Sison said that in discussing the prospects of resuming peace negotiations, he made the estimate that Duterte will render the resumption impossible by imposing on the NDF the demand that the venue be shifted to Manila.
He said the NDF would not agree on the condition that peace negotiations be held in Manila, in violation of a neutral venue as earlier agreed on.

“The NDF does not want to put its negotiating panel and related personnel under the control, surveillance and duress by Duterte and the military,” Sison said.
The formal resumption of the moribund peace talks was supposed to start on June 28 in Norway but fell though after Duterte said the government needed more time to review the agreements and consultations with stakeholders.

“Nothing goes to waste in the work and drafts of agreements already done by the NDF. They can be carried over to the negotiation with (government peace panel) under a new administration. The room is open for the further improvement of the drafts in the meantime,” Sison said.

“So long as he (Duterte) heads the (government), the Filipino people, especially the oppressed and exploited, cannot expect any benefit from negotiating with the Duterte regime,” he added.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Sison is resorting to “childish tantrums” by calling for the ouster of Duterte.

“This Sison, he never ceases to amaze me. He begs for the peace talks and a ceasefire, and now he turns around to say that they will no longer negotiate with this government and threatens to destabilize the administration,” Lorenzana said.

He said Sison is constantly ranting about Duterte and the government suspending the peace talks “to keep in the limelight.”

“Without it you are irrelevant. You also know that the President can terminate the talks, and this is why you are desperately using reverse psychology and intimidation to save it,” he said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said Sison was asking for a “time out” to allow the NPA much-needed breathing space in pushing for the resumption of the peace negotiations despite Duterte’s decision to suspend the talks.

AFP spokesman Col. Edgard Arevalo said Sison’s ouster threat would be meaningless since Duterte has the full support of the people and the military.

Arevalo said the NPA’s strength is on the decline as reflected by the deaths, capture or surrender of 7,531 communist rebels and their supporters.

A militant lawmaker, on the other hand, urged Duterte to save the peace talks with communists by “abandoning the hawkish and militarist game that his administration is now playing.”

“We strongly urge President Duterte to stop treating the peace process like the discredited game of the generals by cancelling the talks on his whims and by unilaterally demanding a change in the foreign neutral venue, among others,” Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said. 

He said the possible withdrawal of the NDF would be “unfortunate.”

Zarate warned the President that if he continues his “militarist path, his administration would come down in history as the administration that could have clinched a political settlement that may address the roots of the armed conflict but squandered it.”

Zarate said the government and NDF panels have already gained headway, including the crafting of an interim peace agreement on social-economic reforms and modalities of a coordinated unilateral ceasefire.

“Despite these breakthroughs in both the formal and informal talks, President Duterte, after strong prodding from his generals, cancelled the talks three times in a span of two years. This is indeed very exasperating and plays into the objective of the peace saboteurs in his administration,” he said.

Zarate said the peace spoilers have apparently succeeded after Sison announced the prospective withdrawal of the communist movement from the peace process “since the rebel front can no longer trust the Duterte administration to sincerely uphold the integrity of the peace talks and its agreements.”

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has intensified security measures following the statements of Sison on Duterte’s ouster.

PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde ordered police commanders to beef security in their respective areas in the wake of Sison’s declaration they can no longer negotiate with the government under Duterte.

Albayalde urged communist rebels to continue holding peace talks, saying now is the best time to end the decades-old insurgency.

“Our countrymen are aware that the government is serious in extending peace to our brothers still engaged in rebellion,” Albayalde said. – With Jess Diaz, Emmanuel Tupas, Jaime Laude, Celso Amo